The work of composer Sivan Eldar has been described as “vividly imagined” (The Boston Globe), “ethereal” (Oakland Musical Examiner), “beautifully melancholic” (Opera Plus), “radiating with poetic sounds and silences” (ResMusica) and "with a unique sensitivity to dramaturgy" (Diapason). She has worked with many of today’s leading ensembles, including the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, Divertimento Ensemble, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, Diotima String Quartet, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Accentus Choir, and Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, at festivals such as Festival ManiFeste, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, Festival Présences, Rainy Days Festival, Impuls Festival, June in Buffalo and Festival Tzlil Meudcan, at diverse venues including Boston’s Symphony Hall, Paris’ Maison de la Radio, Centre Pompidou and Le Centquatre, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Oslo’s Baerum Kulturhaus, NY's Bohemian National Hall, and Berlin’s RADIOALSYSTEM-V.
As a collaborator, she has worked frequently with dancers, directors and writers, with support from the Fulbright Foundation, Cité Internationale des Arts, European Network of Opera Academies, Snape Maltings, Hearst Foundation, Ladd Prix de Paris, the Hertz Traveling Fund, ASCAP, the European Broadcasting Union, and IRCAM.
Sivan began her musical education in Tel Aviv at the age of 5, studying classical piano and voice. At the age of 15 she moved to New Mexico to continue her education at the United World College, where she studied composition while becoming involved in environmental and political work. She continued her studies in Boston at the New England Conservatory (BM), where she studied composition, piano and ethnomusicology, alongside courses in gender studies and ethics. In 2009 She moved to California to pursue her PhD in composition at UC Berkeley with Franck Bedrossian, Edmund Campion, Cindy Cox and Myra Melfrd, with an emphasis in new media studies at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) and the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). She then moved to Paris for training at the Institute de Recherche Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) under Hèctor Parra (Cursus 2016-17). During 2018 she was under commission from IRCAM and the Royaumont Foundation to develop the composition Heave together with computer music designer Augustin Muller and writer Cordelia Lynn.
In addition to her work as a freelance composer, Sivan has served on the theory faculty of the Department of Music at UC Berkeley, and on the composition faculty of the John Adams Young Composers Program (2009-16). She is currently based in Brooklyn and Paris, and is under commission from Accentus Choir (Donaueschingen Musiktage), Orchestre de Chambre de Paris (Théâtre de Châtelet) and Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier (Opéra Comédie), where she holds the position of composer-in-residence starting in Fall 2019. Together with writer Cordelia Lynn, she has created her first opera, Like flesh in 2021. It was a commission from Opéra de Lille for its 2021-22 season, in co-production with IRCAM and Le Balcon ensemble. Her music is published by Durand/Universal Music Classical.
Photo : © Léa Girardin